Spring may not be here yet, but that didn’t stop me from putting all things pastel and feminine on my nails in this Marc Jacobs inspired manicure!
Marc Jacobs is a master of design. His perfume bottles are works of art, even without the pretty smells found inside. Daisy started it all, but by no means was it the end. In the years since, Honey, Dot and countless other gorgeous bottles and delightful scents have made their way onto the market. Prior to owning Daisy Dream, Dot was my preferred MJ perfume, but this pretty guy gives it a run for it’s money.
Tools I Used // Essie Find Me An Oasis + Blanc + Ciate Ladylike Luxe
Everything about this bottle screams PAINT ME. So that’s just what I did. Pale blue creme, white and gold have quickly become a perfect color combination in my mind. It’s going to take a lot to kick this manicure out of my favorites!
Insta-design perfection in the nail world comes in the form of creating a look with different, yet complimentary designs on each nail. My first great success with this technique came from my New Year’s rose gold mani, and I can’t seem to stop! With my dotting tool, I created a white and gold polka-dot pattern next to a daisy nail taken straight from the bottle. Subtle gold dot trios and a half moon tied up the finished product. Overall, it was a simple design, but has a striking effect!
Do you love Marc Jacob’s perfume bottles?? Which is your favorite? Happy Reading!
BOOM. One of my projects this December was to create a series of candy cane inspired nails, and I’m pretty proud of the outcome! Let me just tell you a few things I learned through this month-long experience. First, you can’t buy candy canes one by one, so if you’re in need of a peppermint stick (or 5), come on over! Second, it is nearly impossible to pose your hand in the exact right light and location 4 separate times over the course of a month! We’re talking 50-60 takes each time. Getting that down, in and of itself, is one of my proudest accomplishments thus far in my blogging career!
I made it work… eventually!
Despite the abundance of candy canes and photography struggles, I really enjoyed creating these designs. It was fun finding a style that was representative of the classic spiral look, but had a modern twist! I paired an angled french tip with a striped accent nail for a cohesive and festive mani.
This mint manicure was a very exciting one for me to create because the colors really represent a modern Christmas. Soft mint and touches of bright green next to a rich scarlet are a new take on classic red and green. Any time I can simplify and modernize something, I’m happy!
I definitely used way too many polishes to name over the course of December (the usual favorites were included like Essie, Julep, Ciate)! But like always, loved them all!
Despite yellow being one of my least favorite colors, I think this guy was one of my favorites in the end! Clean, crisp, bright and happy! Not particularly “traditional Christmas,” but still fun!
What is your favorite holiday-inspired nail design? Happy Reading!
Lights out, plague, birds. Would you have survived the first 4 waves? NOPE. I definintely wouldn’t have! The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey is an intense, Sci-fi YA thriller packed with action and adventure. Of course, since it is a young adult book, you have to throw the love interest and strong familial ties in there too!
I feel like I’ve really been looking for a book like The 5th Wave recently; one that isn’t so much dystopian, but more action/science fiction. I mean, who doesn’t love a good alien takeover? I was intrigued right away, it held onto me the whole time and left me wanting more as soon as I realized I only had a couple more pages left!
I’ve just started The Infinite Sea, so a review of that will be coming later. But once I had both of these books together, my manicure inspiration hit me almost immediately, and I couldn’t wait until I finished the sequel to do it.
One thing I do want to mention before we get into the manicure is that my inspiration for this look really came from the colors of the naked books, as opposed to literal interpretation of the dust jackets! I will talk more about that below, but I wanted to throw it out there first. Now, let’s get to the polish!
Tools I Used // Essie Jiggle Hi, Jiggle Low + Ciate Ladylike Luxe + Julep Cleopatra
Lining up the two naked books next to each other, you see there’s one main color, black, and two accent colors, silver and gold. Those three colors together ARE MY EVERYTHING! That is what really got the inspiration wheels turning, even before I’d left Barnes & Noble with the book!
I rounded up three trusty colors: Julep’s Black Latex Cleopatra, Essie’s Jiggle Hi, Jiggle Low from their Winter Collection and Ciate’s Ladylike Luxe. Now, Essie describes Jiggle Hi, Jiggle Low as a bold molten gold, but I’m really not sold on that description. It’s definitely silver, possibly with a hint of gold, but not much more than that.
One of the classiest AND easiest nail art techniques I’ve tried is the Ruffian manicure. It’s a reverse French Manicure that follows the shape of the nail bed. I’d only tried it once before, but I adore the striking look it creates if done with the correct contrasting colors.
To create the Ruffian look, start with your base coat. Try to concentrate the color closer to your cuticles, as you will be covering the rest of the nail with a second color. Once it dries completely, you have two options. The first is using tape or a stencil to create the look, and the second is doing it free hand. I chose to run with it free hand, which speeds up the process because you don’t have to wait for the full dry you need when sticking tape to your nail.
If you free hand the design, start with a good amount of polish on the brush. Place it where you want to start the second layer, and gradually spread it out from the center of the nail to the edges in one smooth movement. You can always go back in with a smaller brush and touch up any rough edges, but it works best if you can do it all at once.
In The 5th Wave, one overarching theme that really resonated with me was that of hopelessness. I took that fear of the unknown, as well as the clean lines of the naked covers, and created this manicure. The black represents the fear the aliens have instilled in the human race, and it is covering up the gold and silver, which is their hope for the future. On my accent nail, I drew from Cassie’s strength, which is the reason for the reversed colors, covering the desperation and letting her perseverance shine through.
Have you done a Ruffian Manicure before? I’d love to hear your techniques! Happy Reading!
It’s time to fall into autumn! Gone are the days of sweltering temps and short shorts (unless you’re in Southern California like me), and here are the day of sweaters and falling leaves. The transition between summer and fall is one of my favorite season changes. By this point, I’m always ready to pull out my boots, scarves and most importantly, fall nail polish!
Crisp air and a more dramatic, moody color palette screams fall, and that is why I love these colors for this time of year. My selections for Fall 2014 include rich blues and reds, mixed metals and of course, grey.
Mixed Metals: I am a lover of gold things, so any chance I get to wear some variation of sparkle, I’m happy. For this season, grey skies look great against a metallic duo of brushed silver and dragonfly gold. Julep’s Brit and Harlow are up to this job! Harlow is wonderfully multidimensional, with its green gold shimmer. And Brit, one of my all time fav Julep polishes, dries matte, a perfect touch for fall.
Burnt Red: Julep Sheila has just enough twist on the classic red to work for autumn months. It’s burnt red hue adds a warmth that chilly afternoon’s need.
Warm Grey: Who doesn’t love grey for fall is the real question here! It is basically the perfect color for sweater weather and all that jazz. It’s timeless and low maintenance, which makes it easy to throw on in a hurry!
Navy and Cream: Navy and cream are the perfect bookends of the light to dark spectrum for fall colors. Summer brings out bright white polishes, so the way to keep that look going into autumn is with a smooth cream. It has enough personality to stand up to the darker hues of fall, while still giving your hands a fresh look.
The easiest way to go dark, without going all the way black, is navy. It’s sexy and sultry and so great for fun fall nights!
What colors are you obsessed with for fall? Happy Reading!
Marc Jacobs is a master of design. His perfume bottles are works of art, even without the pretty smells found inside. Daisy started it all, but by no means was it the end. In the years since, Honey, Dot and countless other gorgeous bottles and delightful scents have made their way onto the market. Prior to owning Daisy Dream, Dot was my preferred MJ perfume, but this pretty guy gives it a run for it’s money.
Do you love Marc Jacob’s perfume bottles?? Which is your favorite? Happy Reading!
